Chapter 20

Twenty

"We have no food,"Remi said, grumbling as he stared at the nearly-empty refrigerator.

"I mean, there's some stuff in the pantry." I sat on one of the kitchen stools, talking with him like I did every night while he cooked. I felt bad that I hadn't cooked him anything in all this time, but I also didn't want to assume I could take or use his food. It was bad enough that I'd been stayin' here for so many weeks.

He wrinkled his nose, shut the fridge door, and turned to face me. "Want to go to the grocery store with me?"

My eyebrows rose. "Right now?"

He nodded. "Yeah. We've ordered out too many times this week, and I want to cook something. You don't have to come if you don't feel like it, but I'd definitely welcome the company."

I couldn't help but offer a grin at that. Remi always gave me options, which was kind of cute. And sweet. But then again, just about everythin' he did was sweet. "Sure. I'll come with you."

You would've thought I'd offered him the moon with the way his face lit up. "Awesome. I'm going to throw my jeans back on. Be right back."

Of course, because he talked about his pants, I couldn't help but let my gaze drift down to the sweatpants he'd thrown on when he'd come home from work. His sweatpants that made it very, very clear that he wasn't wearing any underwear.

I hummed in my throat before catching myself and clearing it, praying the wolf shifter—with very excellent hearing—hadn't heard the desperate sound that'd come out of me. How embarrassing.

From the small chuckle I heard, I was pretty sure I hadn't kept my feelings hidden well. Dammit. But he had to know by now just how sexy I found him. This wasn't news.

He came back a few minutes later with a grin on his face, and the two of us left the building. The grocery store Remi liked wasn't far, so we made the drive quickly, and Remi snagged a cart as soon as we went inside.

I'd gone with him two other times, and it amazed me how much food he bought at once. I was so used to only grabbing a handful of things and not even needing a basket for them, so filling a cart was a strange experience for me.

One I was afraid of getting used to, since if I looked at anything for longer than thirty seconds, Remi threw it in his cart no matter what I said.

"What do you want for dinner tonight?" Remi asked me.

"Uh… I'm fine."

He rolled his eyes and shoulder-bumped me. "May'ezza, how many times do I have to tell you that you're eating dinner with me from now on?" At least he was being playful about it today instead of the sad, puppy dog eyes he'd given me so many times before. The ones that made my heart lurch.

I shrugged.

He shoulder-bumped me again with a small snort. "If you could eat anything in the world right now, what would it be?"

I glanced at him and held in a sigh. I supposed I was being difficult and making his life harder by not helping him pick things out, so I said, "Honestly, that weird lasagna you made a couple weeks ago was really good. Tan's on Sunday was different, right? I liked yours a lot."

"The eggplant parmesan?"

"That's the one."

He pursed his lips and nodded. "Alright, I can make that this weekend. It's a little late for lasagna tonight, so Saturday works." He glanced at me. "Does that work for you?"

I knew exactly what he was doing, so I sighed. He was just trying to get me to promise that I'd continue staying with him until at least Saturday.

Honestly, I didn't even know why I was fighting against it so hard anymore. I wanted to stay. I was drawn to Remi like no one I'd ever known.

"Saturday works," I said, and then because I was still feelin' guilty over not ever helping him plan dinner, I added, "What about that veggie stir fry with the orange sauce for tonight?"

From the grin on his face, you'd think I'd given him a big present. "That's perfect." He leaned over and brushed a kiss across my temple, and I swallowed hard at the sweet gesture.

How he could just… not care about associating with a fae, let alone showing affection to one in public, I'd never know. Especially when people gave us looks of pure disgust every time we were out together. I did my best to ignore them.

I didn't actually care what assholes like that thought of me, but I did care about them being rude to Remi. I didn't know him well enough yet to know for sure if those things really didn't bother him or if they did and he simply did his best to ignore them.

Either way, I'd do my best to protect him and his feelings.

So when a woman sneered at us, I lifted my lips in a threatening way and let my magic pulse out of myself. Normally, my magic brought happiness and love into the world. But that didn't mean I couldn't force other emotions into it.

This time, I let all my disgust for how people acted toward us, judged us, and treated us, and how it made me feel, shine heavily through as it pulsed outward. Then I stood back and enjoyed the shocked expression on her face as she grabbed her chest, sorta lookin' like she was having a heart attack. She wasn't. She was just getting a dose of her own medicine for once in her life.

"I didn't know you could do that," Remi said quietly, standing so close to me my arm brushed his chest. He rubbed my back and kissed my temple again.

Even though he was being sweet, I was worried he'd look at me in disgust for what I'd done. But when I finally gathered my courage and glanced up at him, he offered a small smile.

"She deserved it," he said, and I blew out a relieved breath.

"She did, but I still shouldn't have done it. I just… I hate how these people look at you, and I don't want you to get… to get hurt. I'm sorry."

"Nothing to apologize for, may'ezza. You were protecting me, and I appreciate it."

I took him in, ensuring that he meant it and wasn't actually upset with me. He seemed sincere, so I gave him a nod, and he gave me a quick peck on the tip of my nose. What was with him and the nose kisses?

I'd never been with a man who showed such easy affection like this. Not that I'd been with many men in a long-term capacity before, but still. Remi was one of a kind, and I loved it.

After giving me one more nose kiss, he went back to pushing the cart. "What kind of veggies do you want this time?"

I shrugged. "I liked the peppers that one time. Or broccoli. Honestly, I don't really care. I've enjoyed everything you've made so far."

"My older brother, Tio, is an amazing chef. He taught me a bunch of recipes when I was a teenager. I even worked in the kitchen at his restaurant all the way through college."

"You were a chef?"

He snorted. "Yeah, right. Tio is way too meticulous to let me do any actual cooking. I started off washing dishes, then waited tables, and then I got to help do some prep work in the kitchen, but it was mostly little things, like cutting up veggies or whatever. I wasn't allowed to do any actual cooking unless the place was shut down and we were messing around. But at home, he used to let me help with family meals."

Every time he spoke about his family, I could tell how much he loved them. It made me curious why he'd ever left and come here in the first place. If I had a big, loving family like he did, one that supported me and helped me the way his did, I didn't think I'd ever leave.

I frowned at myself because that wasn't true, was it?

Keryth and the girls might not have been a huge family, but they sure as hell were supportive of me and would do anything and everything in their power to help me… if I'd ever let them.

Ker tried to get me to stay with them all the time, and yet, I'd left each time. So… I suppose I would leave them, although my situation and Remi's were completely different.

"Hey." Remi gently knocked his elbow into my arm. "What's got you thinking so loudly?"

I sighed. "Nothin'. Just… thinking about family, I guess."

"Your cousins okay?"

"Yep."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

He snorted. "Alright, but I'm here if you change your mind, yeah?"

Taking a chance, I grabbed onto his arm to stop him from walking away and went up onto my toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. He smiled so widely at me, it was totally worth the flushing embarrassment I felt.

Remi pulled me in for a side-hug, and I easily melted into his side for a moment before pulling away and stealing the cart from him. He chuckled, and the two of us finally started paying attention to the task at hand.

To no one's surprise, Remi filled the cart up with so much stuff, it was overflowing to the point that he handed me a couple of things to carry.

"You know this is ridiculous, right?" I said as we headed down one of the last aisles.

"No, it's not. I don't want to have to make another trip anytime soon."

I snorted. "We'll have to anyway because we'll need fresh veggies in a few days."

He stopped and stared at me for a long moment, a slow smile spreading over his face. "Yes, I suppose we will. But at least we won't need to make a big trip like this for a while."

It took only a moment for me to understand why he'd emphasized we so much. Because I'd said we first. Like I was planning on stayin'. I could feel my stupid cheeks flushing again.

Remi pecked my lips with a grin, then pushed on down the long aisle.

We. We would need more veggies.

Mother of All, I'd already gotten so used to spending time with Remi and being in his space that I really did feel like I was stayin', didn't I?

But I couldn't count on it because Remi would leave eventually. He was bound to go back to Brinnswick after he got his business up and running.

Shakin' off things I didn't want to think about, I trailed after him.

When we were halfway down the aisle, I saw someone heading our way, and I did a double take. I froze.

Holy shit. Oh holy shit. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Right at the end of the aisle stood a man.

An evil man.

And one who recognized me immediately.

Luynore stood there, taking in my companion with his fancy clothes and cart overflowing. Fuck. I so didn't want Remi anywhere near that monster.

"Remi," I whispered, tugging on his sleeve. "Let's go this way."

"What? Why? Did we forget something?"

"Uh… yeah. We?—"

"Belryn."

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath before facing Luynore. "Luynore."

The man came farther down the aisle wearing a grin, acting like he was happy to see me. "It's been too long, Belryn. It's so good to see you." To anyone else, that probably sounded like a friendly greeting. To me, it sounded like a threat. But he was shit out of luck if he thought I'd ever come to him without him sending for me.

"You too." I only said it so he wouldn't be tempted to pull on my obligation in front of Remi… or to call me down to him later on for a deeper punishment.

"And who must this be?"

Before I could stop him, Remi was giving the other fae a nod and saying, "Remington Ellwood. Nice to meet you."

Remi had been featured in the news on numerous occasions since he'd moved here because he'd brought so many employment opportunities and everything. Plus, it was now public knowledge that his firm was doing work for the king, so I saw the moment Luynore recognized the name. His eyes glinted, and I could practically hear his weasley brain trying to figure out a way to take advantage of my… my Remi.

"Ah, Mr. Ellwood. I've read all about your new business."

He glanced at me for only a second before turning back to Luynore. "I'd love to stay and talk, but we have to be off. Nice meeting you."

"You too."

Remi turned the cart around, then steered it with one hand so he could put his other on my lower back and guide me down the aisle, back the way we came.

I expected him to go to the next aisle, but he went straight for the registers and headed to the one farthest away from Luynore.

"You okay?" he whispered.

I nodded, my heart still in my throat.

He didn't say anything else to me, but he squeezed my hand reassuringly. Then we loaded the conveyor belt with our groceries, paid, and headed to Remi's car.

He didn't speak again until we were on the way out of the parking lot. "How do you know that guy?"

I blew out a long breath. "He's just some asshole who thinks he owns the city."

He grunted.

Before he could start asking me questions that I couldn't answer, I asked, "Will you show me how to make that sauce?"

He shot me a quick look before focusing on the drive. "You want to learn how to cook?"

"It sounds like a good skill to have." I didn't really know how to cook because I hadn't had much opportunity to use a kitchen in my entire adult life, but I knew some basics.

"Sure. I'd love to teach you."

I sent him a smile, even though he couldn't see it, and then I reached over and gave his forearm a squeeze because I really couldn't help myself.

I'd just have to spend the rest of the night trying to put Luynore out of my head and pray that he didn't call on me anytime soon… or ask me any questions about Remi.

Mother of All, help us if Luynore tried to take advantage of my Remi. He wasn't a man to cross, not with his powerful position with the king, not to mention his powerful family back in Brinnswick.

And I… I really didn't want Luynore to force me to do anything harmful to the one person in the entire world who seemed to want to put me first before anyone and anything else.

When Remi grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together, I clung to them a little more tightly than I should have. But he didn't seem to mind.